ABSTRACT
Between July 1978 and September 1979 Ghana underwent three changes in government while searching for a reordering formula that could give expression to the various structures at work in the Ghanaian political community. On 5 July 1978, when the palace coup led by Lieutenant-General Fred Akuffo took place, three charges were brought against Acheampong: that he had divided the country, that he had taken actions without consulting fellow members of the SMC, and that his presence in office impeded any possibility for reconciliation. When Jerry Rawlings first attempted a coup on 15 May 1979, he was giving expression for the first time since independence to the quest for a more systematic, normative and structural, reordering of Ghanaian political life. Unlike the initial SMC II rehabilitation effort which focused on the power elite, this second attempt at reconstruction from a situation of disintegration was propelled by growing alienation.
